


Forest for the Trees

by Muccamukk



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Aldbourne, Episode: s01e01 Currahee, M/M, Missing Scene, Nixon's got it bad, Pining, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 20:45:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14505138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muccamukk/pseuds/Muccamukk
Summary: Missing scene from "Currahee." Nixon finds out about Winters' court martial and transfer.





	Forest for the Trees

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Challenge #35 over at [Picture Prompt Fun.](https://picturepromptfun-mod.dreamwidth.org/)
> 
> Some book details mixed in with show canon.

Lew was walking into Battalion HQ, admittedly a little later than he should have been, when he had to stop and do a double take at who was headed in the opposite direction. It wasn't that Dick Winters shouldn't have been there, though it wasn't a company XO's usual stomping grounds, it was that he looked like someone had punched him in the stomach and then told him his dog had died. Stranger still, when he looked up and saw Lew, instead of giving him his usual half smile and nod, he flushed and looked at his feet, then turned onto a pathway that Lew knew for a fact didn't lead anywhere Dick needed to go.

He'd presumably just been clipped of a pass by Sobel over the latrine thing, but when didn't that happen? Dick never left the base on weekends anyway. The slap on the wrist would be humiliating, but Dick had an almost supernatural ability to take whatever Sobel dished out with nothing but a nod and a _Yes, sir._ Lew had never had the least idea how Dick endured that, but he had for over a year now. Jesus, maybe his dog had died, except he didn't have a dog, so far as Lew knew. His parents maybe? Someone from that wholesome family he was billeted with? 

Lew gave up on arriving vaguely on time and changed course, jogging to catch up. There really wasn't anything up past the manor house save trees and more trees. "Going for a walk?" he asked.

Dick glanced sideways, just a flick of his eyes, then looked away again. He had his shoulders hunched up around his ears like he'd taken a beating, and Lew wanted to throw and arm around them and pull him into the joking half hug that was a close to an embrace as he dared to get. Only he knew a silent request to fuck off when he saw one. He didn't think he'd ever seen Dick this low, not even after that three-day forced march in the rain.

"I'll go with you," Lew said when he didn't get answer, and fell into step beside Dick, having to work to keep up with that long-legged stride. Battalion staff was not keeping him up to Easy Company's PT standards, and certainly not to Dick Winters'.

"I'm fine, Nix," Dick said.

Lew waited for an explanation or an expansion of that sentiment, but didn't get any. They were into a proper old English estate forest now. If it hadn't been pouring rain for the past month, there might have been a decent colour change, like back home, but now all the leaves just lay on sodden brown heaps. Lew felt like it should be a metaphor for something.

"You must have been really looking forward to that pass," he said. "Hot date in London?"

Dick glanced at him again, and this time his eyes ere narrow and accusing, like he thought Lew was mocking him. "I didn't lose a pass," he said shortly. "I requested a court martial. I've been transferred to the mess until Colonel Strayer figures out what to do with me."

His ears were burning red at the admission, and Lew could see why. Mess duty was for officers who had proven too incompetent to for any staff or field duty, but weren't spectacularly bad enough to be dismissed completely. For a man like Dick, whose entire existence was wrapped up in an obsession with excellence, to be exiled to the U.S. Army's answer to purgatory, well it would have been kinder if Bob Strayer had just had him shot.

"I'll get you out of it," Lew promised impulsively, then realised he had no idea how to get someone out of a court martial. Well, he was about to learn. "Major Horton and I will figure it out."

Dick shook his head, not breaking stride, not looking at Lew. Maybe following him been the wrong call. This was a man who wanted to curl around his heartbreak and wallow in peace. It was too late now, though, and Lew knew he could never have turned away from Dick when he was hurting. It wasn't in his make up.

"Stupid," Dick muttered, and Lew almost flinched back, but then he realised Dick was talking about himself. "Stupid," he said again, then stopped dead. Nix not anticipating this took another step before he swung his momentum into a turn so that he ended up standing in front of Dick, the Moon orbiting the Earth. Dick looked up at him, and Lew hated how Dick was trying to hide the pure misery etched across his face behind the kind of mask he wore for Sobel. Almost worse, he was failing. "I should have just taken the punishment. I don't know what I was thinking. Lew, they're taking me away from the men."

Lew wasn't sure what Dick had thought was going to happen, demanding that he superior court martial him over a latrine inspection, but now wasn't the time. "They'll be all right without you for a couple weeks," he said, glad that he knew that the big jump wasn't happening over the winter. Whether Dick would be okay without the men was another question. "You're not stupid," Lew said, he reached across to touch Dick's elbow and Dick looked down at his hand in surprise. "A man can only take so much. Hell, you held out a lot longer than I did."

Dick blinked. "You were promoted, not sent away."

"Yeah. Promoted." Lew laughed. He hadn't admitted this to Dick at the time; he'd been too ashamed that he'd been so weak next to Dick's fortitude and grace. He hadn't wanted to admit that he was abandoning Dick to deal with Sobel alone. "After we got our jump wings, I told Strayer I wanted to transfer to the 82nd. Or back to the MPs. Maybe Antarctica, if they had an opening."

"Nix, why?" Dick was looking at him like Lew had said he'd considered defecting to the Nazis, which was another reason why Lew hadn't told him in the first place.

"Because I knew if I had to stand at attention and take it from that son of a bitch one day longer, I was going to clock him one right in the mouth." Watching him go after Dick had been the hardest. One afternoon while they were all in process of having their passes revoked, again, Sobel had been right up in Dick's face, chewing him out for something Sobel himself had screwed up, and Nix had realised that his hands had curled into fists and his shoulders were back and ready for a fight. He'd made himself relax before Sobel turned on him, but the intensity of the emotion had knocked Lew back a step. He'd gone to Stayer that afternoon. "Guess Strayer couldn't stand the thought of not getting to see my pretty face any more, so he got me the S2 spot." He glanced at his boots, then back at Dick's face. He was still staring at him the intensity of focus he usually aimed at tactical problems. Lew shifted his weight and jammed his hands in his pockets. "The point is you're not the only who couldn't take it. It's done now, and I'm going to get you out of it." Or die trying. It would be a valiant death, mono a mono against the army procedural manual for courts martial in time of war.

"I..." Dick hesitated, than gave Lew the little half smile that always made his heart jump, and said, "Thanks, Lew. I'm glad you stayed. I don't know what I would have done without you."

If this had been the version Lew sometimes thought about late a night, where he had his hand on his cock and lust and guilt pounding through his veins, Dick would have said something else then, or just kissed him, but it wasn't. This was the real, perfect Dick Winters who sent most of his pay home to his parents and never thought about Lew with much more than amused tolerance, or in this case gratitude for a favour. Sucker that he was, Lew would take it. He'd take whatever scraps Dick was willing to throw his way, and do his best to hide how much he wanted to beg for more.

"Come on," Lew said, and jerked his head back towards the manor. "I've had enough woods for one day." He almost said he wasn't used to getting his boots muddy any more, but realised just in time how close to home that would hit Dick. Instead he stepped around Dick and back onto the path. When Dick took a moment to follow, Lew indulged in resting a guiding hand on the small of Dick's back, and in the guilt that came when Dick leaned back into his touch a little, making Lew think all the wrong things.


End file.
